The Crying Girls
Wendy Dranfield
396 pages
Bookouture
published October 7, 2024
About the book:
Dawn breaks over the mountains. Not a single part of the girl’s once-beautiful body is free from pain. She prays she’ll slip into a blissful unconsciousness, but the sound of an engine rouses her. Her swollen eyes struggle to focus as she raises a bruised arm and waves from the long grass. A decision that will cost her much more than her innocent little life…
With her partner missing, Detective Madison Harper has her work cut out for her juggling the discovery of a body in the murky shallows of Lost Creek and a distraught mother searching for her missing baby boy. She barely has time to eat or sleep. But someone in this small town has lost a loved one, and a child’s life could be in danger. Madison’s sense of duty drives her on, poring over cold case files and interviewing inhabitants of the trailer park near where the headless body was found.
Without a face to identify, or teeth to match to dental records, the decapitated victim is almost impossible to name. Then the postmortem reveals a single red rose stem forced down his throat. What monster would do such a thing? What message were they trying to send? It feels like a dead end until Madison returns home to find the photo of a distressed-looking girl on her windshield. Written on the back is a message that grips her with ice-cold fear: Sofia. Day 1.
Now hunting for a missing child, a murderer and a missing girl, Madison is pushed to her limit. As terror chokes the close-knit community, she vows that no more innocent lives will be lost on her watch. But as these cases connect, and she comes face to face with the twisted individual at the heart of it all, will there be anyone left to save?
A totally addictive and twist-packed crime thriller guaranteed to get your heart racing! Perfect for fans of Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.
My Review
Another one of the great series I love to read. The story is once again great but I’ll admit to feeling a little sad since Nate played such a small role in this one. I understand why he was absent for much of the book, but that doesn’t make me sad for his absence. But even with Madison’s son Owen being away at school, I’ll forgive the author for finding a way to bring him into the plot.
I love the unique premise of this series. Both Madison and Nate were wrongfully imprisoned, exonerated and working to set their life back on the right track with all the extra backage that brings. Madison being a detective and Nate a private eye. And I shouldn’t forget my favorite character, Brody, Nate’s dog. Who also mourns Nate not being around in this one. I just love when an animal serves a purpose in a book.
Madison has her work cut out for her. A body missing its head and hands is hard to identify and a women claiming her child went missing. All while she is wondering where Nate is and how is his mental status.
The story, while dark, was gripping and kept me glued to the book. The mix of both Madison’s personal life with her work life is always well balanced. And that ending. WOW. I’m always afraid of spoiling something with too many details, but trust me when I say the multiple POVs, cases and Madison’s focus had me reading this as quickly as I could.
Is it too soon to wonder what will happen next?
About the author:
Wendy is the bestselling author of the Detective Madison Harper series and the Dean Matheson series, as well as two standalone thrillers: The Birthday Party and The Night She Vanished.
She is a former coroner’s assistant turned crime writer. Some of her books have been shortlisted for various writing competitions and awards, including the International Thriller Writer Awards.
You can find more information on her website.
Follow Wendy on Amazon for new book alerts (click the Follow button next to her profile pic).
The only social media Wendy uses is her Facebook author page: Wendy Dranfield Author.
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